About Catherine Chevers

After the death of his wife in 1610, the Castle and lands passed from Aylmer's possession into that of his wife's nephew, Henry Cheevers, her sister's second son. The latter married a daughter of his neighbour, Sir Richard Fitzwilliam, ancestor in the female line of the Earls of Pembroke, whose Castle at Merrion was the only dwelling of importance between Monkstown and Dublin, and passed an uneventful life in the Castle.

To him succeeded, on his death in 1640, his son, Walter Cheevers, who was residing in the Castle when the Commonwealth was established. He appears to have taken no part in the stirring events of the time, but, as a Roman Catholic, he was not long left undisturbed. The Castle was a tempting residence for one of the authorities of the Parliament. and commanding as it did the landing-place for the men-of-war which lay in the roads, now occupied by Kingstown Harbour, it was of importance that it should be in the hands of one trusted by the Government. Cheevers was, therefore, amongst the first who were ordered to transplant into Connaught, although, from the steps taken to give him a suitable dwelling and ample lands there, it is evident that the only cause of complaint against him was his religion, and in the depth of the winter of 1653, he received command to vacate his ancestral home, and with his wife, a daughter of Viscount Netterville, and his five children, the eldest being only seven years of age, to find a new one in the wilds of the West of Ireland. His circumstances were not too flourishing, but he was surrounded by the usual crowd of retainers, and six men and four women servants accompanied their master. Also four tenants elected to share their landlord's fortunes, and the progress of so great a company, with their horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and goods, across Ireland in winter must have been attended with loss, as well as hardship.

At Merrion there formerly stood, on ground nearly opposite the railway crossing, Merrion Castle, the ancestral home of the Fitzwilliam family, who settled in this locality early in the 15th century. The castle, which was one of the largest structures of its kind in the County Dublin, fell into decay early in the new 18th century after its owners moved to Mount Merrion, their new residence, and was partly taken down in 1780. Duncan's Map of the County Dublin (1820) represents the castle as still existing, from which it would seem that portion of the ruins survived until the early part of the 19th century.

A survey of 1654 states that Merrion had been the property of the Lord of Merrion, "an Irish Papist," and that on the lands were an old decayed castle and an extensive rabbit burrow.

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HISTORY OF CARNEW ENTERPRISE CENTRE

This large building, the former national school was built by Lord Fitzwilliam in 1829, and was titled "The Earl Fitzwilliam Endowed School". He had intended it to be a school for all pupils in the area regardless of the status or religion.

When the new school was built in 1959, the existing building was used as a sort of parish hall and became know as Saint Aidan's Club. Then in the 1970's the local Credit Union transferred its offices here.

Catherine was the daughter of Sir Richard Fitzwilliam of Merrion, County Dublin, her ancestor in the female line of the Earls of Pembroke, and her sister being the wife if the First Viscount FitzWilliam.